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Mount Mercy alum wins SIFE National Alumnus of the Year

Mount Mercy University alumnus Nate Klein ’07 has been awarded the Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) National Alumnus of the Year Award. The award recognizes the achievement of one outstanding SIFE Alumnus who has used his or her SIFE experiences to excel in life and in his or her chosen career, and who has continued to make a difference in the lives of others.

Klein will be awarded this distinction at the 2012 SIFE National Convention on May 23 in Kansas City. Klein is the second Mount Mercy alumnus to have received this prestigious award, joining Tony Dickinson ’02, who won the award in 2009.

Klein is a 2007 summa cum laude graduate of Mount Mercy with degrees in marketing and management and minors in accounting, finance and economics. He also holds an MBA from Emory University in Atlanta, Ga., and is pursuing a Ph.D. in leadership from Creighton University. He currently serves as the manager of process innovation and control at Aflac in Columbus, where he is responsible for managing the current state processes and systems for the Client Service department and seeks to identify process improvements, lean initiatives and strategic solutions.

During his career at Mount Mercy, Klein was highly involved in service and community activities and was a leader on the SIFE team, helping the team compete and advance in regional and national championships. He has shown that same spirit of leadership and volunteerism as a member of the Columbus, Ga. community. He serves as a member of the Board of Directors for The Literacy Alliance and the United Way of the Chattahoochee Valley, where he recently organized a three-day middle school Live United Youth Volunteer camp for students in the Columbus area to educate and engage them on the issues of poverty and volunteerism.

Klein has been recognized as the Tri-DVS Community Volunteer of the Year in 2010 and in July 2011 was named one of the 5 Under 40 in Columbus and the Valley Magazine. He has recently been awarded the Alumni Certificate of Merit at Mount Mercy’s Homecoming 2011, which recognizes those who have graduated within the past 10 years and, through the use of their Mount Mercy education and leadership qualities, show promise of significant professional growth or achievement.

“Nate Klein’s enthusiasm is contagious -- he inspired his fellow students, his teachers and the people he served through his countless volunteer projects,” says Interim Assistant Provost/Dean of Adult Programs Tom Castle, who has served as a SIFE faculty advisor. “Nate changed the lives of many people during his time at Mount Mercy, and we couldn’t be more proud of him.”

Also to be recognized at the convention is Mount Mercy sophomore Kim Moorman, a finance major from Coggan, Iowa who has been awarded the 2012 SIFE Emerging Leader Award, which recognizes an outstanding university student who has demonstrated proven leadership abilities through their participation on a SIFE team and who exhibits the potential to make significant future leadership contributions to the consumer packaged goods industry. Moorman earned a $5,000 scholarship and the opportunity to participate in a paid summer internship at the National GMA headquarters in Washington D.C. Her selection also secured a $1,000 project grant to the Mount Mercy University SIFE Team.

SIFE, the largest student organization in the world, provides students the opportunity to make a difference by developing leadership skills through learning, practicing, and teaching the principles of the free enterprise system.